Since the age of candles and oil lamps numerous advances have been made in the area of portable illumination devices. By the late 19th century, flashlights utilizing simple circuitry represented the next generation of illumination devices. Since the invention of flashlights, they have generally utilized a filament light bulb, an on/off switch and battery connected in an operative series. Such flashlights are generally well known within the art and for almost a century flashlight technology has generally remained unchanged.
There are a number of flashlights on the market that are well known in the art. Included in these are two AAA-cell powered Lights (Pen Light and Mini-Pocket Light), the MiniMityLite, Mitylite, the photon light and Super Mitylite. While these lights vary according to the design and colors, they all share similar components: a battery, a light and leads or wires connecting the battery to the light. An assembly in accordance with the state of the art is prone to premature battery drain.
While there are many flashlight-type devices, the art contains a relative few lighting devices that are linked with a non-traditional assemblage. Specifically, few personal lighting devices contain anything other than a tube holder, an incandescent bulb, wires leading to an on/off switch, a battery, a lens, and a reflector. Set out below, are some examples of lighting devices which may be termed non-traditional.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,872,095 issued to Dudak et al discloses an entrance door night light contained within an enclosure that is mounted to the head of an entrance doorway between the storm door and the entrance door. The enclosure contains a lamp, powered by a DC voltage source, a momentary switch that makes contact with the storm door and is used to switch the lamp on when the storm door is opened, a timer to turn the light off if the storm door does not close, and a photocell to keep the lamp off during daylight, even when the storm door is opened. Such systems use wires, which can fray, require added solder points, are susceptible to corrosion, are difficult to handle and time consuming to install.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,134 issued to Castaldo, discloses a handbag whose interior is illuminated through the use of a small lamp or bulb unit connected by an elongate flexible conductor to a switch unit that is in turn connected to a battery unit. The switch may function to turn on the lamp or bulb automatically, or may be manually switched on.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,285 issued to Redburn et al discloses a self-contained automatic lighting device for use in the interior of a container which is comprised of a backing plate, cover means, light sources and pivoting switch means. Also disclosed, the lighting device utilizes a photo-sensor to determine actuation and a timer to deactivate the light after a certain amount of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,089 issued to Parker et al, discloses a light distribution system for supplying light to an input edge of a light emitting portion for conduction within. Parker discloses that a system may be used in order to display information or logos and discloses the use of switches—e.g. a microprocessor to meet a particular application. Such systems are known in the art and generally utilize floating point arithmetic and “look-up” tables to perform mathematical equations within the programming logic. The general formula for a floating-point number x is:x=s*MX*β^pwhere “s” is the sign, Mx is the (normalized) mantissa, β is the base (also known as the radix), and p is an integer power. The representation of these numbers in a digital computer will restrict p to some range, for example [L, U] based on the number of exponent bits Ne, while the precision of the mantissa Mx is restricted to Nf (or Nf+1 if a “hidden” bit is used) bits. Many conventions for the choice of β and the normalization of Mx exist. Most computer systems today, other than IBM mainframes and their clones, use β=2. The normalization of the mantissa Mx is chosen to be 1.fffff (binary) for the IEEE standard, although you will find systems that use 0.1fffff (binary).
Since there are only a certain number of bits for the mantissa, the question arises of what to do with the bits that cannot be stored. It is generally accepted that there are two choices: discard them completely “chop” or round the stored part up or down based on whether the next bit is 1 or 0. For example, if we have 1.01010101 and need to store it so there are only 3 places after the binary (radix) point, chopping, in accordance with the prior art, gives 1.010 while rounding gives 1.011. Note that the IEEE standard uses rounding. This can cause vagaries and inaccuracies. Also, devices using floating point arithmetic logic when fixed point logic would suffice are less efficient, requiring more logic steps, greater power and are prone to problems. Thus, a need exists for an arithmetical logical unit that utilizes simpler instructions, and doesn't have the vagaries associated with floating point arithmetic and look-up tables. Such a logic unit requires fewer steps, encounters fewer problems and utilizes less power. This is particularly desirable when seeking an extended life illumination device such as that of the present invention.
Efforts at improving such flashlights have primarily addressed the quality of the optical characteristics and sought to reduce size. However, the present invention represents new and intelligent illumination devices. There has been a need for an extended life lighting device that is small, highly durable, inexpensive, wireless, shockproof, water-resistant, emits little to no heat, small, wireless, utilizes a multidirectional light, responds to a multitude of stimulus and adapts for a multitude of purposes through the use of a single compact device.